The current tax amnesty, which ends on Friday, has attracted an excellent response and the last-minute rush of applications is likely to intensify in the last few days.
Christo Henning, spokesman for the SA Revenue Services, said category one of the amnesty has attracted 2 876 new taxpayers so far. This category covers those who at April 26, 1994 were either not registered for tax or were registered, but their addresses were unknown.
Category two covers those who omitted income from their tax returns for 1994 or previous years, or did not pay accurate employees' tax up to February 28, 1994, or failed to disclose accurate VAT for periods ending up to March 10, 1994 or in some cases April 10, 1994. No amnesty application is required for this category, but the omission has to be corrected in the applicable tax return.
By January 7, category three had attracted 2 549 applications.
This category covers interest, penalties or additional tax on the same basis as category two, but amnesty has to be sought if all returns are not up to date.
Henning said applications for amnesty had increased after President Nelson Mandela's discussions with the National Federation of Chambers of Commerce (Nafcoc) last week which had reinforced the government's seriousness about tax collection.
Subsequently, the SA Revenue Service was taking about 800 calls a day enquiring about the amnesty, compared to mid-January when about 300 calls a day were being logged.
Here's what some of the country's most prominent citizens have said about the amnesty: "We are concerned that many people are not meeting their tax obligations and, as such, the tax burden is borne by too few honest citizens. It is fair to assume that we all want South Africa to succeed. But we must be prepared to foot the bill for success" President Nelson Mandela at the opening of Parliament.
"In South Africa's case there is so much to be done and the payment of taxes must become a norm in the community. I would therefore encourage everyone to ensure that their tax payments are up to date in terms of this current generous offer." Chris Ball, chief executive officer, Cape Town 2004 Olympic Bid.